I had a blown head gasget that got fixed along with the catalitic converter replaced,water pump, some sensors, all the belts replaced, and the heater hose. However, my car continues to overheat. Once the coolant is full it will take about 2 weeks of driving and it slowly starts overheating only while the car is idling and once i start driving the gage goes back to normal. Eventually the car will overheat more and more often and after about another week when the coolant is checked it is empty. When the cap is opened coolant is sputtering and steam pours out of it. Due to this problem (I took it to a shop to get fixed) the guy at the shop has done countless things to try to find out what is wrong with it. He has even replaced the head gasget again thinking that maybe there was a small fracture in the head, but even after that the same problem persisted. I took it to 2 other shops including the honda dealership and no body can figure out whats wrong with it. They have run test after test and put dye in it hoping to find the leak but they cant find anything and the same problem keeps happening. Any ideas please because i spent 2500 dollars getting the car fixed and i still owe 3700 on it and i need it to work.

 

change the thermostat

 

When you fill up the coolant and idle the car does the coolant leak out anywhere? I would grab and tug and turn all coolant hoses to be sure it doesn't happen only when driving. There could be a very small leak somewhere. Totally make sure there is no leak.

If not, then the coolant is leaking through the headgasket into the combustion chamber. It's not often but the block could be warped where it meets the head. When you pull the head you should check for warpage both on the head AND the block. Pick up a haynes or chilton. It'll show you how to check but essentially you're gonna be using a straight edge and a feeler gauge and will stick the correct size feeler gauge under the straight edge with the straight edge on the block and head and check for the gap. A good test is to pull the spark plugs and look for them to be the color of your coolant. The coolant will crystalize on the plugs.

 

If the cooling system pressure test was done properly and found no leaks, you likely have a cracked sleeve or head. Should have just replaced the entire engine with a used one to begin with rather than changing the head gasket - it would have been both cheaper and easier.

I never do head gasket jobs on F23As with combustion leaks into the cooling system, because in most cases the head gasket isn't the problem. They almost always come back within days or weeks with the same problem after a head gasket job. I just replace the whole engine which saves considerable time, money, and aggrivation for both my customers and myself.

 

Was there any machine work done to the head? Its possible that the head bolts failed and allowed the head to warp, causing the head gasket to fail. Verify that the head was checked to be true. Verify new head bolts were used.

 

Targa250R I've noticed, here on H-T, that the F23s seem to have head gasket issues more so than F22/H22. Do you think there is a design flaw with these later engines?

 

+1. The most cost/effective solution.

 

go rent or buy a block tester, although I would hope the other places would have done this already but it only seems logical at this point

 

I wouldn't say there is a "design flaw," but the F23As are more prone to it than F22s and H22s. I see it happen more often with the F23A4 (ULEV) than with the F23A1, interestingly enough.

If it were a design flaw per se, we'd see this happening on a much larger scale, as with the automatic transmission problems.

A block tester (a.k.a. combustion leak tester) will only show that combustion gases are present in the cooling system; it will not determine the source of the combustion leak. You can't differentiate between a porous head, cracked sleeve, or a blown head gasket with a block tester.

If I have an F23A in my shop that is overheating and/or loosing coolant, I will initially run a cooling system pressure test. If no leaks are found, I will then run a combustion leak test. If the test result shows carbon monoxide in the cooling system, I replace the entire engine. Someone who is unfamiliar with '98-02 Accords would just replace the head gasket, but as I suspect with the original poster's car, in most cases the head gasket isn't the culprit and the problem will recur.

 

^^ great explanation and solution! Is there any problems like this with the 2001 Accord Sedan V6? I just want to have a heads up if it does.

 

The common problem occuring on the V6 were the automatic transmission, along with the 2.3 Auto transaxles. <--- fml

 

Other than minor issues with EGR clogging and bad alternators, the J30A1 engines were essentially bulletproof. I haven't seen a J30 blow a head gasket unless it was severely (!) overheated. I consider it one of the best engines Honda has made to date.

Unfortunately, one of the most reliable engines they ever made was bolted to one of the least reliable transmissions they ever made. We've replaced so many bad J-series automatic transmissions over the years that I've lost count. Sadly, the '98-02 F-series automatics weren't much better.

 

Hopefully this isn't too OT. The engine on my 98 Accord LX has been slowly loosing coolant (no sign of leaks that I can see). We did a block test, and didn't find anything in the coolant. The compressions check tests out just find (190 psi for all 4 cylinders).

Other symptoms that I've been having:
-Occasional rough / suring idle on startup (possibly a bad IACV?)
-Cylinder misfire (first just on cyl 3, and now on 2 and 3). The check engine light came on, I cleared it, swapped spark plugs between cyl 3 & 4, and it came back on 2 & 3 (so it wasn't a fouled spark plug).
-EGR code (unrelated, I suppose)

I bought a new IACV, but haven't installed it. Hopefully, I can just clean mine. Could this be the culprit? It seems like coolant might be leaking / going into the cylinder and getting burned off.

Hopefully I'm not hi-jacking this thread, and TIA.

 

EGR problems including P1491 (insufficient valve lift) and P0401 (insufficient flow through ports) can both cause a misfire. If the ports for cylinders 1 and 4 are clogged, it will cause cylinders 2 and 3 to misfire.

The idle surging can be caused by low coolant or an air bubble in the cooling system reaching the IAC valve. Have you tried bleeding the cooling system? Have you run a pressure test on the cooling system to check for leaks under operating pressure?

 

My code is P1456, something about EVAP system. I have a generic code reader, so it wasn't too specific, but did mention the EVAP system.


I have not done either of those, for lack of equipment. There were a few air bubbles in the radiator when we did the block test. I suppose that I could look up how to bleed the cooling system. Thanks for the advice.

 

EGR and EVAP are unrelated.

P1456 is caused by a loose fuel filler cap, a bad fuel cap seal, or a leaking fuel tank. It won't affect the engine performance in any way.

 

You're right, my bad. I got mixed up. I was basically just trying to paint a complete picture, as I don't know what's causing the misfires. A friend of mine was a Honda mechanic for several years, and is also stumped. He said to start by replacing the IACV.

 

my 1998 accord v6 is overheating ive replaced the temp sensor fan switch sensor t-stat and it still overheat both fans kick on when i run the ac when i replaced the tstat water did leak out of the engine from where the t stat was pulled so i thought maybe the coolant level would be low after i restarted my engine but no that didnt happen both resevor and rtadiator still full. i let idle car still overheated no fans came on and coolant was cold to a touch.... does my water pump need to be replaced?

 

Where did you buy the thermostat and what brand was it?

 

i bought it at autozone it was a duralast ... i checked the old t-stat by boiling it and it opened up so i put the original one back in to see if anything has changed but nothing still overheats.... funny thing is i can leave my car sitting all day and as soon as i turn my key over to acc it reads in the middle... i took the radiator cap off let t brp its taking colant now so im guessing its nt the pump... fan still not kicking on though. i bypassed the sensor fan kicks on so i let it idle still read that its overheating...i just replaced the tranny so im hoping its something small